When Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, it only had 13 employees. With a $19 billion acquisition, a team of 55 was running WhatsApp. Through technology, startups can build a scalable and repeatable business model that makes it possible to serve millions of users and customers with a small team.

With changing economy and a new rebelliousness amongst the workforce, we are witnessing a re-surging startup revolution. Depending on the source of data, over 627,000 new businesses open each year in the United States, according to estimates from SBA. Over the course of three years, we’ve written many stories about at least 1000 startups that have raised billions of dollars in funding through either venture capital and private equity farms.

(Bloomberg) -- The number of venture capital firms with two or more female partners doubled last year to 14%, suggesting a cultural change is under way in one of finance’s most intractable all-boys’ clubs.

Last year 52 women became partners or general partners at VC firms—a record, according to a soon-to-be-published study by All Raise, an advocacy group for women in venture capital and tech. The additions mark a significant shift as more firms add multiple women, helping address concerns of tokenism in an industry that is still overwhelmingly male dominated.

Even though I’m a big proponent of becoming an entrepreneur, it is definitely not for everyone. Unfortunately the success and lavish lifestyle of some current well-known entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk, lead many who are not so well prepared to jump in with both feet, only to be shocked and severely tested by the unexpected rigors and high risk.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

In the US, unprecedented numbers of seniors are pushing past the once typical retirement age of 65 and working until about 72. Simultaneously, millennials are hustling to amass income-generating assets and living off rice and beans to retire early.

While there's no one way to approach retirement, many are getting creative in stretching their money for a comfortable — and even luxurious — third act of life. One strategy? Retiring abroad.

In 2020, family-owned businesses spanning three generations are few and far between. In an article by William Chou in Deloitte’s new report, Private company issues and opportunities 2020: Family business edition, he cites statistics showing that fewer than 30 percent of family- and founder-owned businesses in the United States can claim that level of longevity.

Why don’t family-owned businesses endure? Chou writes that it’s not internal squabbling or lack of interested successors — it’s the lack of a commonly understood purpose. Defining purpose may seem easy but maintaining it from generation to generation can be harder than most people think.

Image: In a family-owned business, purpose goes beyond profits to encompass mission and role in the community as well as the reasons family members decided to go into business together in the first place. - DANIEL ALLAN

3. Berkshire Grey $263.0M Round: Series B Investors in the round: Canaan Partners, Khosla Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, SoftBank Description: Lexington-based Berkshire Grey develops a materials handling system intended to automate omnichannel fulfillment. Founded by Tom Wagner in 2013, Berkshire Grey has now raised a total of $263.0M in total equity funding and is backed by investors that include SoftBank, Canaan Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and Khosla Ventures. Industry: Artificial Intelligence, E-Commerce, Industrial Automation, Robotics, Software Founders: Tom Wagner Founding year: 2013 Location: Lexington Total equity funding raised: $263.0M

Image: https://www.alleywatch.com

Exploding quantities of data have the potential to fuel a new era of fact-based innovation in corporations, backing up new ideas with solid evidence. Buoyed by hopes of better satisfying customers, streamlining operations, and clarifying strategy, firms have for the past decade amassed data, invested in technologies, and paid handsomely for analytical talent. Yet for many companies a strong, data-driven culture remains elusive, and data are rarely the universal basis for decision making.

George Mason University is now looking for private partners to help it build its Amazon-inspired expansion of its Arlington campus, outlining preliminary plans for a building with 225,000 square feet of academic space and 135,000 square feet of private office and retail.

University officials released a request for proposals Tuesday, looking for developers interested in teaming up with Mason to build a new home for the Institute of Digital Innovation on its Virginia Square property.

Image: https://www.bizjournals.com

I have the sad claim to fame of being one of the journalists most associated with the bubble and bust of Silicon Valley's tortured love affair with cleantech. It perhaps wasn't the most advantageous career move, but it was an interesting ride to follow, and I'm betting the ride ain't over yet.

A decade and a half after the first wave of cleantech kicked off, Elon Musk has clawed his way through the valley of death, but the vast, vast majority of startups and investors did not and entire investing sectors (CIGS solar cells, solar thermal, cellulosic biofuels) were entirely wiped out between 2006 and 2014. 

The performance edge family businesses have over their non-family business counterparts has been explained by their dogged pursuit of operational excellence. Family firms tend to take a long-term view of investments and relationships, stay in ownership control to do things their way, focus on persistent improvement and innovation, develop loyal stakeholder relationships, build key talent in select individuals, carry lower debt, and build greater financial stability.

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer, I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. In fact, since most entrepreneurs are eternal optimists anyway, they would never believe any negative scenarios could happen to them.

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing. Each of these can go astray as follows:

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Business owners make myriad decisions every day. However, when it comes to the toughest choices, like whether to hire more talent, invest in technology or seek another round of funding, it’s imperative to get clarity. When you increase your certainty before you go down a specific road, you’ll avoid second guessing your decision and unintentionally sabotaging your commitment and results.

CNBC’s Meg Tirrell reports on testing efforts here in the U.S. to detect the coronavirus. With Qiagen’s interim CEO, Thierry Bernard, in Boston.

Image: https://www.cnbc.com - From Video

Shanghai has long aimed to become an international pioneer in science and technology, and now it is taking legislative action that could make it an innovation powerhouse, China Daily reported.

Officials there are leading the way with a new bill that will support entities to lead, organize and participate in science projects and encourage R&D, data and big science facilities in the region, the report said.

Image: A series of R&D institutes have also been inaugurated, including the Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, the International Innovation Center of Tsinghua University Shanghai, the Fudan University Human Phenome Institute and the China-Israel Innovation Hub. Credit: SHINE.

One of President Donald Trump's most commonly discussed topics is the strength of the American economy.

Trump has written tweets highlighting strong stock and other market results and the general state of the economy, and frequently mentions the strong jobs market during campaign speeches and rallies. Trump emphasized the booming stock market during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Image: US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Reuters

From declining foot traffic to the rise of e-commerce, countless stores have permanently closed their doors for a number of reasons. In 2020, more than 2,200 stores are already set to close across the United States. In 2019, more than 9,300 stores closed. But even when shopping malls were in their heyday, many stores still shuttered for various reasons. Department stores like Bon-Ton and Ames, bookstores like Waldenbooks and Borders, and clothing stores like Wet Seal and Limited Too are among the many stores that have permanently shut their doors. Here are 50 once-beloved stores that don't exist anymore.

Google “the next Silicon Valley” and you’ll find stories about Chicago, Boise, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, even cities in Europe and India. For decades now, everyone has been trying to replicate the Bay Area’s booming, venture capital-backed technology industry.

But new research out of the Yale School of Management traces many of the region’s most glaring problems — soaring income inequality, high cost of living and shrinking middle class — can be traced to the venture capital that helped build Silicon Valley.

“Most of what we’re showing in this paper is that the returns, who is benefiting from that, are very unevenly distributed,” said Olav Sorenson, the professor that co-authored the new research.

Image: Facebook employees take a ping pong break on May 8, 2014, at the company’s campus in Menlo Park, Calif. The social networking company might want to order more ping pong tables — it is planning to add thousands more workers by 2019. - https://www.mercurynews.com/

In the next decade, businesses and governments will increasingly collect biological data, from facial recognition to DNA. Every time you command a smart speaker, have your face scanned, or track your health on any app, it’s all going into your biological data bank.

Today, startups like Voicesense and Sonde Health can decode our voice to make predictions about anything from depression to defaulting on our mortgage. In the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security is planning on developing a DNA database of immigrants in federal detention facilities. Meanwhile, in China, the government is collecting DNA and biometrics from all residents aged 12 to 65 in Xinjiang, a region home to 11 million Muslim Uighurs.

Image: Source photos: Jude Beck/Unsplash; TheDigitalArtist/Pexels - https://www.fastcompany.com

You snoozed your alarm one too many times, so your morning has been a frantic dash. You gave up on finding matching socks, forgot your lunch, almost missed your train, and arrived to your first meeting five minutes late, panting and needing to use the bathroom.

It’s going to be a long day . . .

For some, this may be an occasional blip in an overall Zen morning schedule. But for others, this is a lifestyle. And it’s stressful.